HED4813
Assignment 2
Semester 2 | Due
2 September
2025
NO PLAGIARISM
[Pick the date]
[Type the company name]
, Exam (elaborations)
HED4813 Assignment 2 Semester 2 Memo |
Due 2 September 2025
Course
Mathematics Education (HED4813)
Institution
University Of South Africa (Unisa)
HED4813 Assignment 2 Semester 2 Memo | Due 2 September 2025. All
questions fully answered.
Question 1 1. Critically discuss how Jean Piaget’s stages of cognitive
development—sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and
formal operational—affect a child’s learning experience, with a particular
focus on mathematics education.
Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development and Their Implications for
Mathematics Education
1. Introduction
The teaching and learning of mathematics has long been a subject of debate among educators,
psychologists, and curriculum designers. One of the most influential frameworks guiding
educational practice is Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Piaget (1896–1980), a
Swiss psychologist, revolutionized the understanding of how children acquire knowledge. His
work shifted focus from viewing children as passive recipients of information to recognizing
them as active constructors of knowledge through interaction with their environment.
Piaget proposed four distinct stages of cognitive development—sensorimotor (0–2 years),
preoperational (2–7 years), concrete operational (7–11 years), and formal operational (11
years and above)—each characterized by qualitatively different modes of thinking. These stages
provide a developmental roadmap that explains how children’s reasoning, problem-solving, and
capacity for abstraction evolve over time.
Assignment 2
Semester 2 | Due
2 September
2025
NO PLAGIARISM
[Pick the date]
[Type the company name]
, Exam (elaborations)
HED4813 Assignment 2 Semester 2 Memo |
Due 2 September 2025
Course
Mathematics Education (HED4813)
Institution
University Of South Africa (Unisa)
HED4813 Assignment 2 Semester 2 Memo | Due 2 September 2025. All
questions fully answered.
Question 1 1. Critically discuss how Jean Piaget’s stages of cognitive
development—sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and
formal operational—affect a child’s learning experience, with a particular
focus on mathematics education.
Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development and Their Implications for
Mathematics Education
1. Introduction
The teaching and learning of mathematics has long been a subject of debate among educators,
psychologists, and curriculum designers. One of the most influential frameworks guiding
educational practice is Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Piaget (1896–1980), a
Swiss psychologist, revolutionized the understanding of how children acquire knowledge. His
work shifted focus from viewing children as passive recipients of information to recognizing
them as active constructors of knowledge through interaction with their environment.
Piaget proposed four distinct stages of cognitive development—sensorimotor (0–2 years),
preoperational (2–7 years), concrete operational (7–11 years), and formal operational (11
years and above)—each characterized by qualitatively different modes of thinking. These stages
provide a developmental roadmap that explains how children’s reasoning, problem-solving, and
capacity for abstraction evolve over time.
